The Cedar Front Porch

Five years ago, we had the good fortune to be selected as the builder for a second storey house addition project in Alderwood, a neighbourhood in south-west Etobicoke/Toronto.  The house addition was designed in a craftsman style, complete with a full width front porch.  The project was not only blessed with great design, but a homeowner who had a vision for the home beyond the architect’s specifications.  The homeowner made a great decision to not only finish the porch deck in cedar, but also the railings and the ceiling of the porch roof in cedar wood.

The craftsman style house was unique, the first of its style in the neighbourhood.  And the front porch was unique; while a few other projects included a large front porch, this was the first in the area to be built completely out of a natural wood.

This cedar porch has had an impact in many ways.  The project won a Best Renovation award in the BILD Renovation and Custom Builder Awards, and the award and the pictures of the project in our portfolio has had a definite positive impact on our business.

Since then,  many of our clients have incorporated a cedar front porch as part of their house addition project, some of them in the same area.   These porches have come in various sizes and styles, but they all include cedar decking and stairs, cedar posts and railings, and cedar on the ceiling.

And, as we look around the Alderwood neighbourhood where our first cedar porch project was built, several other renovation projects are currently being built with cedar incorporated into their front porches.  A neighbourhood which in the past had bland house additions and custom homes being built is starting to show increased attention to architectural detail, and it all may have started with one cedar front porch.